Torment for Niall Quinn until he won his big gamble

Jun 5 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

Niall Quinn has always liked a gamble, only this time it could have cost him far more than he was willing to pay as Sunderland chairman. Chief sports writer Luke Edwards reports

NIALL Quinn exudes confidence. Niall Quinn radiates self-belief. Niall Quinn breezes into the room with the self-assurance of the most popular chairman in the Premier League.

Niall Quinn is racked by self-doubt. Niall Quinn suffers from sleepless nights. Niall Quinn walks out of the room worrying whether he is up to the job.

Nobody suffered more during Sunderland’s dangerous flirtation with relegation last season than the normally affable Irishman as he tortured himself with the knowledge it would ultimately be his fault if the Black Cats crashed back into the Championship.

For once, the Black Cats’ chairman found putting on his beaming smile was a struggle, the laughter forced. There was no glint in the eye, no conviction in the handshake. Niall Quinn was, for the first time in his life, starting to buckle under the pressure.

He may have been responsible for hauling the club off its knees three years ago following its last relegation from the Premier League, but Quinn feared he would also have to take responsibility for sending them back there.

After all, he had persuaded the board to appoint first-team coach Ricky Sbragia as manager when Roy Keane quit and he had persuaded the board to sanction the transfer fees and extravagant wages for the first-team squad which had dragged the club into danger once more.

It was Quinn’s biggest gamble and it almost ruined him. It was a gamble though which, with the appointment of Steve Bruce as manager this week, he is adamant he won.

“Socially I was non-existent at the end of last season and for those last eight games I was having trouble sleeping at night,” said Quinn, his vigour for the challenge renewed. “Other than the people who were in charge from the late 19th Century to 1958, the longest this club has been in the top flight is six seasons. Now we are about to embark on our third (season).

“I have gone from being a complete wreck, couldn’t look out of the window, sleeping under the covers because I couldn’t face people, to two weeks later and I want to be the fella that does seven. That points out how it has invigorated me. I was doubting myself in the last few weeks so much. That wasn’t very nice. Everything has fallen into place – the ownership issue, staying up. Now I have the zest to do it. This is my chance. I was an ex-player and after three years I feel as though I’ve served my apprenticeship as a chairman.” A horseracing aficionado, Quinn knows all about the highs and lows of gambling, the thrill of winning big, the crestfallen crush of losing large – but this was different.

This was not just about leaving a racecourse with a big dent in his wallet and some explaining to do when he got home, this was about an entire football club, a city, an entire region even. “It was a gamble and it was a gamble that paid off,” admits Quinn, with a smile which is far from forced.

“I understand the consequences if it had gone wrong, but it worked this time and I have to take advantage of that. I have had a gambling instinct in me and I felt Ricky would lift us, and he did. However, I think I felt that if Ricky had not got us over the line, I was culpable.

“We might have got what they are all saying about the Newcastle and Middlesbrough players. That would have been my fault, I sanctioned all of those deals.

“You start to doubt yourself. You keep yourself to yourself. You just want to keep out of the way. Then you get over the line and you’re thinking it was fine all along.

“Then you start to feel good and pat yourself on the back. You get back to work. We have had good news since. It’s really refreshing and we are all lifted.”